What Is IWF? iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF

IWF is the iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF, tracking the Russell 1000 Growth Index at a 0.18% expense ratio. It holds the large-cap US stocks that FTSE Russell classifies as growth, weighted by market cap, giving concentrated exposure to the market's fastest-growing large companies in one ticker.

BlackRock launched IWF in May 2000, and it has grown to roughly $125 billion in assets. It is the most established and most liquid fund in the large-growth category, which is why many institutions and traders use it despite the availability of cheaper alternatives.

Approximate weights as of mid-2026; refresh quarterly from BlackRock iShares's fund page. Each ticker links to its individual stock guide in Walnut.

IWF is heavily concentrated at the top. NVIDIA alone is around 14% of the fund, followed by Apple, both share classes of Alphabet, Broadcom, Microsoft, Tesla, Micron, Meta, and Eli Lilly. The ten largest positions together are more than half of assets.

The fund is dominated by technology and communication-services names, with growth-oriented health care (Eli Lilly) and consumer stocks rounding it out. This concentration is a feature of the growth style: the index deliberately excludes the value half of the market, so IWF's fate is tied closely to the mega-cap growth leaders.

IWF, VUG, and SCHG all target US large-cap growth but track different indexes and charge very different fees. IWF follows the Russell 1000 Growth Index at 0.18%. VUG uses a CRSP growth index and SCHG a Dow Jones US Large-Cap Growth index, both at just 0.04%. The top holdings overlap almost completely, so returns tend to be similar.

IWF's disadvantage is plain: it costs four to five times as much as VUG or SCHG for comparable exposure, and over decades that fee gap compounds. Its advantage is liquidity and a deep options market, which matter to traders and large institutions. For a buy-and-hold investor focused on cost, VUG or SCHG is the cheaper route; for those who value trading depth, IWF holds its place. None is objectively best.

IWF has tracked the large-growth segment, which has led the broad market during the mega-cap technology run of recent years, delivering strong returns alongside elevated valuations. Its performance is closely tied to a small number of top holdings, so it can move sharply on the results of NVIDIA, Apple, or Microsoft.

As a passive fund, IWF's outlook is the outlook for US large-cap growth. It tends to outperform when growth stocks lead and can lag meaningfully during rotations into value, given that it holds none of the value half of the market and carries heavy top-end concentration.

IWF suits investors who want a deliberate tilt toward large-cap growth and are comfortable with concentration in a handful of mega-cap names. It typically plays a satellite or style-tilt role rather than serving as a diversified core, since it deliberately omits value stocks.

Whether IWF fits depends on your time horizon, risk tolerance, valuation sensitivity, and whether the cheaper VUG or SCHG would serve the same goal. Walnut is not an investment adviser, and this is not a recommendation to buy IWF. It is a description of the fund and the role it tends to play.

IWF trades on every major US brokerage, including Robinhood, Fidelity, Schwab, and Public, usually commission-free and often with fractional shares so you can invest a fixed dollar amount. Its exceptional liquidity keeps spreads extremely tight.

To hold IWF alongside a stated thesis, connect your broker to Walnut and track it inside a themed basket. Walnut mirrors your real positions and shows how they map to your targets, while trade execution stays at your broker.

The bottom line on IWF: the original, deeply liquid way to own US large-cap growth, dominated by the mega-cap technology names. At 0.18% it is far pricier than VUG or SCHG at 0.04%, and it uses a different growth index, but its scale and options market keep it a staple. It plays a growth-tilt satellite role, not a diversified core.

Whether IWF is worth buying today depends more on your time horizon and what you already hold than on any single call. We walk through valuation, concentration, and what would have to be true for it to outperform from here in is IWF a buy?

IWF yields ~0.5% as of mid-2026, paid by passing through the dividends of its underlying holdings. For the payout schedule, history, and how the distributions are taxed, see IWF dividend: yield and schedule.